Starlight in the Wastes
by Zero Starlight
Summary: Join Zero Starlight and Alice as they try to keep the peace in their little slice of the Equestrian apocalypse, Arc Station. Updated whenever I feel like it.  Set in Fallout: Equestria timeline, and features large amounts of Dead Space references
1. Chapter 1: Onwards and Downwards

Fallout: Equestria Side Story

Starlight in the Wastes

Featuring; Zero Starlight

Chapter 1; Onwards and Downwards

When it comes to, say, building a new type of armor, I usually excel. The one intelligence based process that has never been my strong suite for me is creating thought out plans. Sure, I can plan out how to launch an assault on a base, but thinking on the fly limits how far ahead I can think. Which leads to why I find myself hurtling towards the dusty ground of the Equestrian Wastes, and to make things just even better, Celestia and Luna decided to toss in a fair helping of Alicorns in hot pursuit. I don't blame them, the Alicorns, not the goddesses, considering I had survived worse (Though I can't seem to recall any at the moment…), it seemed a necessary precaution. And why had I thought throwing myself out the window of one of the only still standing buildings that towered above the wastes, you ask? Well, remember that bit about the new armor? Yeah… I really should have found a more efficient fuel source for the P.A.S.S (That's Personal Aerial and Suborbital flight System) I had added to my newest revision of my R.I.G. Turns out that centuries old gasoline isn't quite efficient after years of sitting. So in recap, I'm speeding towards imminent death provided by good old Mother Earth, a few dozen nigh immortal hive-minded drones are in hot pursuit, and I'm out of gas. I think that about sums it up.

'Boy, this is gonna be fun.'

I did a fast systems check of my R.I.G. Surprise, surprise! No gas magically appeared. Thankfully, I happen to know of something that might power the P.A.S.S enough to keep me from reaching critical velocity. Pulling up the suit's inventory display, I quickly sifted through, and pulled a few small, orange and black rectangles out. Behind the aerodynamic helmet, I grinned. Plasma energy, fuel of the gods. Also highly volatile in this kind of maneuver, but I'd rather explode in electric blue flames than be reduced to a pile of broken bones. And I sure as hell wasn't letting anyone get their hooves on the suit. The wastes had enough problems without armored flying Alicorns to deal with. On the back of my heels, the heavy metal boots opened slightly, and I quickly dumped the blue sludge out of the plasma cartridges into the slots. With a whir, my suit flashed up a series of diagnostics, warning that dispensing live plasma into the fuel slots could result in serious injury, mutations, and even death, and proceeded to ask if I was completely sure I wanted to do this, and would I kindly stabilize my descent? The suit was already warming up the thrusters before the warning was halfway through. 'Ok, that's one problem hopefully fixed; now I just need to make sure that these girls aren't planning to vaporize me when I land…'

I opened the various flaps on my suit, flipping me over onto my back. I pulled a small cylinder from it's holster, and the tube quickly opened itself into a three tipped form of my pulse rifle. It could be a very futuristic version of the automatic machineguns that some raiders toted on their person, but featured the very useful addition of a grenade launcher built in. It even used the normal pulse rounds to lob one of the spheres of destruction. Quickly targeting the Alicorn using the triangular dot reticule, I let loose a short burst of rounds straight into the breast of the nearest Alicorn. The rounds tore through her (her? He? It? Considering they didn't have a consciousness of their own…), black flowers of blood blossoming from the Alicorn's back. As the Alicorn began to fall, I felt the boosters in my boots flare to life, slowing my fall. The RIG's HUD (Heads up Display) flashed warning messages, mostly commenting that if I did not fire my precision boosters I would still end up landing on the unforgiving ground, but I would land farther away from the building instead of marginally closer. I ignored them, I had more than enough time to take on the remaining two Alicorns and stabilize my descent. I hoped.

With the Pulse Rifle still spinning, throwing metal death through the air, I swung the muzzle and reticule to line up with the next Alicorn, one of the green, teleporting flavors. The pulse rounds wouldn't do anything to it's shield and instead I opted to see how well the magical shield would do when faced with a head on collision with a plasma round grenade. With a muffled pop, a small metal sphere flew from the barrel of the rifle, colliding with the green Alicorn's shield, splintering into multiple explosive shards that ripped holes through her wings. The Altimeter (Altitude Meter, if it wasn't already obvious) readout was now under 500 meters up. 'Cutting this one a tad close…' Turning the barrel over to the remaining Alicorn, one of the teleporting varieties, I pulled the trigger, preparing to activate the P.A.S.S as soon as it had bit the dust. I was rewarded with disappointment as the chamber click-click-clicked empty. 'Crap, not enough time to reload and level out…' I activated my precision boosters, white, red and blue flames bursting into life, and I felt the pressure as a few dozen G's were piled on top of me from the sudden deceleration. Cracking open the Pulse Rifle, I let the empty tube of rounds drop and pulled another tube of Pulse rounds, slapping it into it's empty clip holder, and snapped the gun shut again. Taking aim again, I let another burst of energy rip through the Alicorn, turning her chest and muzzle into Swiss cheese.

'Like taking candy from a filly…'

I landed on the cracked concrete that formed the landing pad of what had once been a highly advanced research lab, back before the balefire baked the lands to a crisp. I had converted the building to a veritable fortress, multiple turrets hanging from alcoves or watching from the guard towers at the four corners of the facility. I had replaced the blown out windows with a somewhat bulletproof Plexiglas, and had added multiple security checkpoints to get in and out. Very few were allowed past the expansive reception lobby, where businesses and homes had sprung into life and Arc Station had grown into one of the most respected safe havens in the wastes. We did not deal with raiders or slavers, and a strict three strikes policy saw to it that those who abused their privileges were politely escorted to the next closest safe haven.

With a small buzz of static, a video window floated up to me, the caller garbed in a tank top and pink blazer, tight black pants, and her hair just as pink as the blazer, with floppy rabbit ears twitching atop her head. Alice. "Yoo-hoo! Alice reporting!" She said, in her regular upbeat attitude. With a hiss, the panels of my helmet retracted, sliding into the collar of my suit, my black hair sticky with sweat, the white highlights (It's natural! I'm not kidding!) Turned grey with dust and dirt buildup. "Hey Alice. How're things? No riots, I hope?"

Alice giggled, before looking at me with a mock-hurt expression on her face. "Honestly! I wonder how Blackjack would feel if I told her that Zero Starlight was afraid she couldn't prevent a riot." I humored her, taking the bait. "Oh come on! You know I was just kidding around Alice! Don't tell Jack!" Alice grinned mischievously, "Oh your too easy to freak out Zero! You need to relax." I grinned at her as the roof elevator door unlocked and slid open with a whir, "I can relax when I'm dead or when the Wastes become less about death and more about peace and love, whichever comes first. I'm on my way down to the lab, I'll talk with you when I get their. Later." Alice said bye and I activated the lift with the holographic control panel. With a buzz of power, the lift began to slowly move down.

"Zero? Rooms 317 to 428 aren't getting a connection to the water purifier. Can you work your magic?" I sighed; waving to the nearby com screen Alice was calling from in the affirmative and pulled the access panel off the wall circuit panel. Carefully, I stuck my hand up and behind, fumbling around and watching the display, turning dials slowly. The triangle lit blue for a moment before turning back to grey. Turning the dials back slightly I pulled a few wires. With a hum, the control panel whirred to life. "Should be working now Alice!" The lights in the lab flickered once, twice, three times, and with a pitter patter of glass, the lights blew out. I sighed, "Alice? Can you get me a couple of replacement bulbs?" I waited a few moments, but Alice didn't respond. "Alice? I swear if you're kidding around again, I'm gonna dock your pay for a month!" Still no response. That's never a good sign. Alice is highly protective of her salary, especially making sure that she gets back loans down to the last cap. I turned to the com panel, only to find that the monitor had gone dark. 'Um… Rerouting the water purifier shouldn't have shut down the power grid… Did I pull to many wires? I don't think so…'

I walked calmly over to the electronic shop inset into one of the lab walls, activating it and pulling up the storage function. I retrieving my Plasma Cutter with it's flashlight accessory. The Plasma Cutter was a small handheld device created with the purpose to weld rivets using the Plasma energy I had used earlier. It was also very useful if you ever needed to slice through most materials like a hot knife through butter.

Flicking on my plasma cutter's flashlight, I opened the door out of the lab, and walked into the main science wing of Arc Station. The normally bustling hub of research and invention had been plunged into darkness, and the room was much too quite. So quite in fact, that when my com link crackled to life I nearly emptied a clip into the wall. Alice was at the control panel, and off screen I could hear shouts and gunfire. "Alice! What happened?" Alice looked at me grimly, "I don't really know Zero. As soon as you reconnected the water system the grid just crashed! Our scouts spotted a gang of raiders heading towards us, but the turrets got knocked offline as well. We're assuming that raiders set up some kind of EMP, not quite sure how they managed to find a still functioning one, or how they got one into arc station, but were a tad bit pinned down right now." She ducked as a shot pinged through the room. She swore before continuing, "We managed to get nearly everyone into the safe room, but a few were too close when the raiders blew in the doors." Now it was my turn to curse. 'How could this happen! All this work to make a safe place that everyone could trust, and in less time than it took to blink an eye it's all starting to fall apart!'

I turned my attention back to Alice, "Alice, get into the safe room and lock it down. I've got a plan. I'm in the Science Wing right now, so I should be able to use the maintenance vents to get over to engineering. From there I can re-activate the generator and that should bring the turrets back online." Alice smiled grimly, "Sounds like a plan kid. Keep in touch."


	2. Chapter 2: Isn't Life Peachy?

Chapter 2; Isn't life peachy?

'Well, it's a plan, but not a really good one. The ducts have at least fifty different fans, and that's only in the science wing alone.' I rested my head on the bottom of the air duct, sighing in a manner I hoped would convince anyone that might happen to be beneath me that it was just a gust of wind in the vents. I pulled up my navigation system, trying to make sense of the twisty mess that made up the vents. I rolled my head around, trying to work out a crick in my neck, and then double tapped a spot on the map, dropping a waypoint. Holding my left hand out slightly, a blue orb lit up in my hand, and a thin sky blue ribbon wound it's way through the ducts, around a junction, and out of sight. 'Well, as the saying goes… Follow the blue ribbon line, follow the blue ribbon line, follow the follow the… ah screw it.' I sighed again, 'Note to self, no chance of a career in singing.' With this new knowledge, I began the long crawl, pulling myself along while trying to be as quite as possible.

I got about a hundred forward pulls before I encountered a snag in my plan. With a grunt and a screech of metal, a section of the old vent beneath me gave way, leaving me hanging upside down by one boot, directly behind a group of startled raiders. Raising my hands slightly, I attempted to diffuse the situation. "Hi. Your probably wondering what I'm doing here." I attempted a laugh, but it came out as more of a bark, which probably wouldn't work in my favor. "Well, funny story, but really, I'm just hanging around…" I attempted a relaxed pose, extending a hand out to one of the closest raiders. "Now, what can I do for you, Mr.…?" The raider simply stared at me, then my hand, then me, my hand. He snorted, batting away my hand before turning back to his groupies. "Well would you look at this? A piñata! You know what we do to piñatas, don't you boys."

"We break 'em!" They cheered, sneers forming on their faces. I put my hand behind my back, grabbing my plasma cutter and flicking it on. "Are you sure you want to do that?" I said, trying to make my tone as pleading as possible. I don't enjoy dismembering living beings, no matter how badly they deserve it. The group laughed at me, trading glances between each other, obviously to say, 'You believe this?' The leader spoke up again, "And why wouldn't we?" I whipped my plasma cutter out, dismembering one raider at his kneecap and another at the wing. The third raider's left ear bit the dust next, and the leader of the pack… well, he got a special shot. Even I winced a little when he realized what he had lost. (Author's note; I'm not going to say what Zero shot off specifically, but I'll give you a hint. All the raiders Zero has shot were male. I know, it's a terrible joke, and I apologize.) Pointing the cutter at the grate that still held me; I aimed a careful shot, which sliced through the jagged corner that my boot had caught on. I fell to the floor unceremoniously; I got to my feet, and towered over the whimpering raiders. Pointing my Plasma cutter in the leaders face, I spoke quietly. "Now, where was I…? Oh yes. Now, I have three questions for you, and your going to answer them. Who is leading your group? Who helped get you into Arc Station? And where did you get an Electro-Magnetic Pulse bomb?" The leader whimpered again.

I snarled, and gave the leader a forceful shove with the muzzle of my cutter, sending him to floor in a heap. "I'm going to ask you once more. Just once. Then I'm going to start hurting you, and I don't know when I will stop." The leader made a pathetic whimpering noise, and then spoke, "I don't know who sent us here! Our gang got contracted to break in here, trash the place, take no prisoners, you know the drill. They said it would be a cakewalk! I don't know who helped get us in either! It was an inside job, probably one of the security guards, maybe a citizen. It was them who set off the EMP, not us!" I backed up slightly, giving the raider some room to ease the pain he was in. He might have been prepared to crack my head open like an eggshell, but, as Alice always says, 'treat others how you would want to be treated.' Words to live by.

I lowered my plasma cutter, staring into the face of the gang leader, watching with a not so small amount of satisfaction as he began to quiver. Not that he didn't have a right to, considering I just gave them a sound beating while at a major disadvantage. The menacing look of my RIG probably added to the effect in no small part. I spoke, my voice quiet, but with obvious malice and resolve. "If you ever come near Arc Station again, you will be shot on sight. And I will personally make sure that each of you does not get a quick, clean shot. Do you understand?" The leader of the group whimpered, "Good. Now get out of my station before I change my mind."

The raiders left so fast that they left floating after images made of dust and dirt.

Once more I found myself in the cold confines that were the vents. Coming to a access panel, I lifted my hand, the hidden scanner matching my palm and a multitude of small details, like the fiber that made up my RIG's bodysuit, my heart rate, among other things. With a hiss of pneumatics, the hatch slid open, it's split halves looking like nothing more than jagged teeth ready to cut me in two should something go wrong. It was with these thoughts that I quickly pulled myself out of the vent and into the small office. Looking around, I spotted a photograph on the desk. I had never been in this room before… had I? I picked up the photo in one hand, carefully examining it. The brittle piece of paper was worn at the edges, and the picture had obviously been taken before the balefire rained from the sky.

With a click, I remembered…

I was still in the same office, but it was much cleaner, the picture in my hand still worn at the edges but notably in better condition than the other. A knock rang from the door (Why wasn't that door their now…) and I spoke, "Come in." I carefully placed the photo on the desk, my desk, as a dark purple unicorn with a lavender mane entered. I felt my past self smile, and warmth filled his heart. "Twilight! It's good to see you!" Twilight simply gave a half hearted smile before plopping down on one of the bean bags in the room.

I sensed something was wrong, quickly stepping around the desk and coming to a kneeling position next to her. "Twi? You ok? What's wrong?" I could feel the warmth in my past self's heart growing colder by the second, the smile cracking. Twilight simply leaned into him (me, I? Us?), wrapping her fore-hooves around him tightly and shaking with sobs.

I gave a start, but quickly wrapped my arms around her, stroking her mane, making soft, calming noises in her ear. "Twi, it's ok… Tell me what happened?" Twilight sniffled, choking a little on her sadness, but made the effort to speak. "I-It's too much, too much, too much." She looked into my eyes, and my heart broke, "Big Macintosh is dead, Applejack was in that accident, Pinkie Pie's addiction isn't getting any better… I can't help but feel that everything that I've ever had in my life is being taken from me. I don't know what I'd do without the girls or you…" My past self leaned over, resting his lips on Twilight's muzzle. Instantly the distraught mare calmed down, the tension in her simply melting away as she leaned ever closer to me.

I tilted her head up to look at me in the eyes, and smiled happily. "Don't worry Twilight; everything's going to be fine. We've made it through worse, and we'll do it again."

With those closing words, the memory ended, and I found myself back in the messy room that had so long ago been one of my offices. My breath hitched, and I could feel tears threatening to spill. "Everything's going to be fine…" I hobbled over to a corner of the room, the picture still in hand, a life preserver in the storm my emotions and memories had whipped up. Sliding down the wall, I stared numbly at the picture of Twilight and me after I had taken her on our first date… and the rest of the gang tried to spy on us the entire time.

The picture floated to the floor, and for a while, I let the tears come.


	3. Chapter 3: Onwards to Engineering!

Chapter 3: Onwards to Engineering!

I don't know how long I sat there for. An hour, maybe two? Doesn't matter. A gunshot reverberated through the vents, bringing me back from to the present. I could reflect on the past in the future. Right now Alice and everyone in the safe room needed me in the present. I held the picture in my palm, watching as my RIG scanned it and stored it away in it's massive memory banks.

I placed the photo back onto the desk, and with a final glance around the disorderly piece of my past, I pulled myself into the vents.

Pulling myself through another vent, I found myself in Engineering, the basso hum of machinery absent, the power that moved them gone. This left the huge room uncomfortably silent. I lifted my left hand, palm down, the blue glowing orb of my navigation system drawing a blue line over to a still active panel connected to the wall of the room. I walked along the catwalks, keeping an eye out for other raiders or surprises left by the saboteur. I pulled the panel from the red box on the wall, discarding it without much care, worming my arm under the front panel, twisting and pulling wires.

With a whir and hum, a holographic panel flickered to life connected to a rail nearby me. Walking over, I tapped in my access code, and small floating bubbles of air began to blow into the room as a computerized voice spoke into my helmet. "Entering Zero-Gravity…" I felt the weight of my RIG lessen considerably, and the magnets in my boots activated, planting me firmly on the metal catwalk as the railings along them slid into alcoves.

With a gentle push against the rails, I deactivated the magnets, and activated the jets. Floating over to the power management level, I was surprised to see that many of the Power Cells plugged into the various generators and machines were sparking and instead of a blue green mix of color was a deep blood red. Sighing, I floated over and began pulling out their sockets, and piling them up out of the way. Opening a square inset in the wall, I pulled a functioning power cell from the storage space, and floated back over, pushing it into place.

With a hum the machinery began to start back up, and I continued placing more cells into their sockets until each had been plugged in. With a groan of century old metal on metal, the machines in the room began to turn on, pushing, pulling, and spinning, etcetera. With a beep my RIGlink opened up, and Alice greeted me. "Hey kid! Good job, we've got those raiders on the run! Can you come and help us mop up?" I gave her a thumbs up, my helmet sealed in the Zero-G environment to prevent my head from exploding in the unpressurized area.

With a whirr of pneumatics, the elevator door slid up into its recess in the ceiling. Stepping through I spotted Alice waving to me from behind the automatic barriers. I raised my hand to wave back when Alice was thrown backwards, blood spurting from her shoulder. I yelled, turning, already diving for cover, eyes flicking across the room, were was the damn shooter, and-

With a meaty thump, my left shoulder went limp. I whipped my head to the side, horrified to see a javelin that had run my shoulder through. Seeing the spear seemed to make my scattered thoughts all converge on the realization that, 'oh my, we seem to have a sharp object stuck in our shoulder, brain, can you send some pain our way please?' I bit down on my lip so hard it started to bleed, holding back a scream. I knew what I had to do, and I hated that I had to do it.

I hit the floor, rolling behind crates some merchants had brought in with them. Pushing myself into a sitting position against the crates as best I could, I grabbed hold of the javelin, took a deep breath, and pulled. The pain flared up again, and my HUD warned me that I was near unconsciousness. I ignored it, and pulled harder, and a sound like a medieval sword being pulled from a victim's wound, the javelin slid free, and I tossed it away. I activated my RIG's 'quick heal' function, the suit automatically using a medical kit to dull my pain and speed the healing process. I pulled my Seeker Rifle out, a interesting flavor of sniper rifle that used what looked nothing so much as a two pronged forks as their projectile of choice. I had heard, and said, too many jokes pertaining to forks, one of the better ones being 'Stick a fork in it and it's done!' The Seeker Rifle was no joke, however. Its firing rate was what you could expect from a long range rifle, but it packed a punch, along with a nice clip size for a rifle.

Checking my HUD for the last area fired from, I crouched into a running position and I ran for the nearest cover, a metal barrier. A few steps from cover, I leapt forward, turning, aiming down the scope of the Seeker Rifle, searching for the shooter. No luck. I hit the floor, my momentum continuing to slide me behind cover. Keeping low to the ground, I peeked through the fiberglass window set into the steal of the barrier.

I threw myself to the floor as another javelin smashed through the fiberglass like it was tissue paper; inches were my helmet had been milliseconds before. My HUD tracked the noise, placing a tracking point, focusing on the noise in that spot. It picked up footsteps dashing to another position, stopping, the javelin gun being positioned against the catwalk rail.

I grinned, 'Gotcha.' I grabbed a chunk of wood from the crate the second javelin had pierced, and chucked it at the general area where the sniper had set up at. Lucky for me, the shooter was either pumped up on adrenaline, or had an itchy trigger finger, as he shot another javelin at the decoy. I rolled out of cover, sighting through the scope, took a breath, and pulled the trigger.

In an explosion of meat and gore, the fork pierced the shooters head, blowing it apart. A painless, if excessive, way to go.

I sighed, licking the blood that had begun to flow from my lip, and froze momentarily, remembering-

"ALICE!" I screamed out, leaping up and running over to the fallen girl. Her jacket had been torn at her right elbow, blood flowing out of the bullet wound. The sniper must have decided to use regular bullets instead of wasting the hard to find javelins on an unarmored target. Her face was white, and she shivered from the shock and blood loss. I shook her, calling her name. She needed medical attention, now. I pulled a large medical kit from my inventory, jabbing the injector into her neck and pushed down the activator button.

At once, color began to flow back to her face, and her shivers subsided along with the flow of the blood. I sighed in relief.


	4. Chapter 4: Supply Run

Chapter 4: Supply Run

I padded quietly through the halls, Alice following me sleepily, her shoulder bandage a mirror image of the ones on my shoulder. "Where are we going?" Alice whined, annoyed with me for waking her up so early in the morning, and insisting she follow me. I stayed silent, still trying to figure out how I was going to explain what I was about to show her. I stopped at a new door, and held my hand up, the scanners acknowledging my clearance and opening with a quite hiss, unlike the other doors that had been in use for hundreds of years longer than there designers had probably intended. I stepped into the clutter of my old office, winding my way through the stacks of paper and the general chaos to the desk. Alice followed behind me, but she paid less care to the mess on the floor, opting to simply trudge straight through, leaving two long lines of cleared areas where her legs had dragged through. I picked up the picture, the sight of my friends and Twilight bringing a sad smile to my face, before I passed the photo over to Alice.

She groggily examined it, her sleep deprived brain working overtime to try and figure out what I wanted her to see. I could almost see the smoke coming out of her ears as her brain puzzled over the picture. She gave up, opting to give me a look that said, 'And I care… why?' I sighed, before explaining as best I could, that the two in the picture were me and Twilight Sparkle, the Mare of the Ministry of Arcane Sciences, and my girlfriend. As I explained, Alice forced herself to wake up. She had always been interested in the Six Mares, and cherished every piece of information she could find. When I finished explaining, Alice looked at me, then the picture, back at me, then squinted at the picture, then looked back at me one more time, and a confused look formed on her face.

"Wait… So if Twilight was your girlfriend… How are you still…?" She trailed off, not sure how to broach the subject. I broached it for her. "Alive? I'm not sure. You know better than anyone that I don't remember much before coming here." I rubbed the bridge of my nose, and then looked at her. "I'm gonna take the GT500 on a supply run, see if I can't find out more. Maybe check in with Homage." Alice grinned, "So I get to…?" I groaned, forgetting how Alice tended to manage the station while was out on trips. I sighed, backed into a corner now, "Yes Alice, your in charge of the station while I'm away." Alice squealed with joy, but I held up a hand, "On one condition. No crazy parties. I had enough trouble cleaning up the last one." Alice gave me a mocking salute, "Yes, sir!"

I stepped into the underground garage, unlocking the blast shield covering my GT500. The car had weathered the nuclear holocaust well, all things considered. Its black with white racing stripes had faded only slightly, and the machinery had remained in fair condition thanks to the master craftsmanship used to build it. I reached into my pocket, pulling out a small key fob. Looking over the vehicle, something snapped into place in my mind, and I almost fell over as a wave of memory slammed into me.

I found myself under the car, a wrench in hand, laying on top of a small board with wheels, as I tightened nuts and bolts. Or I was, up until someone decided kicked my left foot, the aforementioned limb peeking out from underneath the car. With a startled jump I bumped my head and cursed, before rolling myself out from underneath the car. As my head cleared the front bumper, I was greeted by the smirking face of Rainbow Dash. I sighed, rubbing my head, where undoubtedly a very nice bruise would be appearing in the near future. "You know Dash, you don't need to kick me to get my attention." Dash simply grinned back evilly. "I know, what fun would that be?"

I frowned, knowing that trying to argue the point would lead me nowhere. I instead opted to ask her what she was doing there. Her response was, "Just wanted to check in and see what you were up to gearhead." She looked over the car, then back at me. "It's nice, but racing stripes would make it, like, twenty percent cooler." I gave her a look. "What? It's scientifically proven that racing stripes make everything cooler." I looked at her, attempting to keep a straight face, and failed. I laughed, and after a few moments, Dash joined in, our laughter ringing through the confines of the garage.

As I came out of the memory, I felt a grin slowly creeping across my face. It felt good to smile in a world where such moments of happiness were treasured. I opened the trunk of the car, looking over the equipment I had decided to bring along with me on my trip. I had decided against bringing the Advanced RIG, opting instead to wear my armored civilian clothing, along with a less bulky helmet. I was also bringing along the seeker rifle, but was leaving all my other advanced weaponry behind, bringing instead my Hock & Heckler .99 Magnum Pistol, and a double edged serrated combat knife. My change of clothes rested snuggly on the floorboards of the trunk, along with my Seeker Rifle. The Magnum and knife would remain on my person in case I had a run in with some cocky raiders. I closed the trunk again, climbing into the leather front seat.

I twisted the key in the ignition, and smiled as the engine revved. Putting the car into gear, I picked up a small radio from the side seat and clicked it on, speaking into it. "Garage to Gates." With a hiss of static, a voice crackled across the radio. "This is Gates, go ahead Garage." I spoke into the radio again, "This is Zero, I'm requesting the gates from garage A27 to checkpoint Delta be released. I'm going on a supply run for a week or so." The voice crackled over the radio again, its tone still neutral. "We read you loud and clear Zero. You are cleared for your supply run. Happy hunting, and may the goddesses shower you with luck."

I smiled at this as the heavy blast door began to slowly pull upwards, revealing a near identical copy in the distance doing the same. "Same to you Gates. Zero Out."

It felt… different being outside without my RIG on. I felt almost naked without the high-tech equipment and weaponry weighing me down. I had become accustomed to having the glow of my HUD and the luminescent green blue glow that emitted from my helmet. I still had the helmet, and my modified civvies were more than a match for most small caliber and sharp weaponry, but the discomfort still sat in my gut like a pound of iron. I shook my head to try and bring myself back from my thoughts. Traffic in the post-nuclear wastes was by no stretch of the word 'Busy', but I didn't really want to get Brahmin blood and meat all over my car, and neither did I want to slam into some hapless caravan.

I tapped a few buttons on the dashboard, and with a short pop, the radio turned on, flipping through stations before stopping on one of my favorites. DJ-Pon3y's station, broadcasting live from… wait a second…

The usually upbeat voice of DJ was now haggard, and seemed short of breath. I slowed down the car and turned up the radio, listening intently. "Hello again, everypony! I don't have much time before The Enclave cuts this off, so let's get right onto the news!" I smiled for a moment as DJ played a short musical bumper, then quickly continued. "Well, from what I've heard, it seems that one of Littlepip's companions has met his unfortunate demise. Steelhooves, the elder of Applejack's Rangers, a group that has broken off from the Steel Rangers, was decapitated during a attack on the group by Hellhounds. This incident reportedly took place shortly after the balefire bomb was detonated by Littlepip to destroy the corrupted being known as The Goddess. His funeral took place at the Applejack's Rangers headquarters, during which the Grand Pegasus Enclave blew Canterlot to smithereens. I would like to say now that you can join me in a moment of silence to remember him, but I'm almost out of time myself. Moving right along, our only other piece of news is that Arc Station, the large science facility dug deep into the mountains turned safe haven for travelers, was hit by some kind of electrical failure causing device. I have yet to find out how many were lost in the raid that followed, but to the best of my knowledge, Arc Station remains a safe domain for those who seek one."

I smiled again at this. Good to see that DJ wasn't planning on dissuading his listeners from finding safe refuge at Arc Station. My happiness faded as I remembered what DJ had said about Steelhooves. I had never met Littlepip or her group of friends, but from the news I had heard from DJ before, including that not so radio appropriate letter from DJ's assistant Homage, I had gathered that he was a good pony. Celestia and Luna knew the wastes needed more like him… I frowned, tilting my head to the side. Something about the name Steelhooves nagged at me. I couldn't remember place it though. I shrugged. It would come eventually.

DJ came on again, the signal becoming weaker. "Well, looks like I'm almost out of time, folks! Until next time!" Just before the signal was cut off though, I heard what sounded like tapping. It had a disjointed order to it. I reached back into the trunk through the special trapdoor I had installed to let me grab things without stopping, and grabbed my helmet. I slowed the car to a stop, and pulled the helmet onto my head, the gears clicking away as it automatically connected to the special harnesses in my civvies. The dark interior lit up, filling with boot up messages that quickly dispersed. I opened the auto recorder, flipping back a few seconds, replaying the tapping noise from before. It was definitely a pattern, and apparently my helmet thought so too, as it decoded what turned out to be a Morse Code message. It read, simply, "In Everfree. Need Evac."

I gunned the engine and tore off in the direction of the only remaining area of forested land in the wastes.


	5. Chapter 5: Rescue!

Chapter 5: Rescue!

I pulled the car to a stop, getting out and walking around to the back trunk. I opened it, retrieving my Seeker Rifle along with a couple of clips for both my pistol and the seeker rifle. No one could accuse me of going unprepared. Pulling out the key fob, I locked the car down. A near invisible blue film flickered to life around the car, creating a protective shield. I grinned. Anyone who tried to touch my car was going to, pardon the pun, be in for a shocking experience. Checking the load on my pistol and Seeker Rifle, I walked slowly into the forest, it s overgrown vines seeming to beckoning me deeper into the darkness.

I dropped the empty magazine, and slammed another one into my pistol. I listened, my breath coming fast. I heard the thump of padded feet racing towards me. I grabbed the magazine I had dropped, flinging it towards a tree across from me. I counted to three, and leapt out of cover, sighting the turned head of the distracted Rag Wolf. The thing was covered in greasy green and brown fur that was spattered with blood in some areas. It s mouth hung open, revealing it s two rows of razor sharp teeth, pieces of meat stuck between them. It s tongue was virtually non-existent, all that remained a small flap of red.

I pulled the trigger and the gun gave its report. The bullet flew true, ripping the wolves muzzle apart. It dropped with a whine and curled into a ball. The shot hadn t killed the thing, but it had caused it great pain. I groaned, walking over to the beast that seconds ago had tried to kill me. I spoke quietly to the animal as it tried to lessen the pain. I m sorry about that, and for what I have to do now, but it s for the best. Where you re going is a better place than this I raised the gun to the animals head and fired.

I continued through the forest, stopping and listening carefully regularly. DJ hadn t exactly been specific when he sent out his distress beacon, so I was really hoping that I would just stumble upon him sooner or later.

I was making another stop to listen, this time in a large clearing, and I was about to move on when I heard a muffled cry. My HUD gave me a general approximation of where the cry had come from, giving a visual prompt in the form of blue rings expanding from a point to my west. I placed a waypoint on the spot, and moved at a brisk pace across the clearing and back into the trees. As I neared the marker, I could hear voices and I slowed my pace, ducking into cover. My RIG made an effort to boost the sound in the direction of the voices, but I was still too far away for it to be any use.

Ducking in and out of cover, I slowly made my way closer to what appeared to be a small campfire, around which sat three bandits and a young mare who was being forced towards the fire with the barrel of a rifle. The weapon itself looked like it would either fall apart or explode when the trigger was pulled, and the thing was held together with old tape and a whole lot of hope. My RIG zoomed in on each of the bandits. It s databases didn t have anything on the bandits, not surprising as they re a dime a dozen out here in the wastes, and their life expectancy wasn t all that high either, but it did have an entry for the mare. The name Homage , appeared in a little blue box that followed close to her. I frowned inside my helmet. This made things more complicated. I had expected Homage to have attackers, sure, but she was a smart girl, I hadn't expected that she would get caught. If it was just one bandit, I would have no problem taking him out before he could react, but I can't shoot two targets at the same time, especially when they have a hostage.

Watching the scene play out before me, I noticed a faint glow enveloping Homage's horn, and a piece of red hot fire wood, which began to quietly float up from the fire.

'Clever girl...'

However, whatever she was planning to do with that impromptu blunt weapon, either to bash in their skulls or stick it in their eyes, etcetera, etcetera. She wouldn't be able to do so with that rifle, working or not, poking into her ribs. Firewood, blood, and bone vs. tampered steel. If I was a betting man, my bits would be on the tampered steel. I pulled out my seeker rifle, switched off the safety, and aimed at the old broken rifle. I took a breath, let it out, calming my nerves. I did it again.

I took a final deep breath to steady my aim, and pulled the trigger. With a muffled pop of pneumatics launching the fork, and a crack as it crashed into the broken rifle.

Now, I can attest to the strength and multitude of uses of tape, old or otherwise, in the post apocalyptic wastes, but when faced with a high speed projectile straight to the body, duct tape doesn t stand a chance. The rifle broke apart, pieces falling to the ground. In typical raider fashion, both grunts made an almost comical Huh? sound, noticing too late the piece of fire wood flying at them. With a crack, one raider fell to the ground, head bent at a strange angle. The other raider was quick to come to his senses after that, and rounded on Homage with a small pistol.

My seeker rifle took care of him quite nicely, blood blossoming around the fork that had cut through his tattered leather helmet.

Homage kept the piece of lumber held high, slowly turning, looking. I reloaded and got up slowly, making no sudden movements. It wouldn t be a very good rescue if I ended up getting my head bludgeoned in by a piece of wood. I activated the in-built loudspeaker in my helmet, and spoke.

Evening. You must be the esteemed Mrs. Homage. A pleasure to meet you.

She opened her mouth to speak, but I held up a hand, cutting her off.

I d love to shoot the breeze with you, really I would, but Raiders are a lot like Parasprites. Where there s two, their two dozen more in hiding. So if you would kindly follow me back to my transportation, I think I can get you set up in a safer place than the Everfree.

She hesitated, raising the impromptu weapon higher. I shook my head and held out my seeker rifle, it s barrel facing me.

I can understand if you don t trust me, but perhaps you might be more willing to follow me to safety if you had this?

She took the weapon, looking it over with one eye, the other focused intently on me. Her voice came out in a wheezing whisper.

Who are you?

I smiled, then remembered I was wearing my helmet. I raised my hand, and spoke.

The name s Zero Starlight. I run Arc Station. I was hoping DJ P0N3 s assistant might be of help. I can explain things better when we get home, so if you would kindly follow me ?

With that, I began walking to my car, not looking back to see if she followed. 


End file.
